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“Giles, were you and Ethan lovers in your dimension too?”
“Don’t we have more important things to discuss? Riley Finn
and Drusilla are working together.” A cold mix of fear and anger coiled inside
me at the mention of Spike’s mad sire. I can’t say I ever actually liked Riley
but I didn’t actively dislike him. The poor young man must have been turned in
the line of duty or though his own foolishness.
“Come on,” Anya said, “a simple 'yes' or 'no' doesn't take
that long.”
“I have to say I’m curious myself, Ripper.” Ethan said with
a smirk on his face.
“No.” It wasn’t a lie. What drew us together in the first
place was about the opposite of love. I hated the destiny and the world I was
born into and that was so much a part of what fueled our relationship that
‘lover’ seems too mild and affectionate a term even though I didn’t hate him
until the end of it. Besides saying yes would only mean that at some point Anya
would want the details. “Now may we please return to the subject at hand?”
.I waited for one of them to argue but after taking a
swallow of his drink Ethan simply said, “Finn was turned and he seems to aspire
to Angelus- like depths. They’re holed up in a warehouse somewhere with a lot
of minions. Rumor has it that Drusilla isn’t satisfied with a poor copy of her
sire though. She’s using him as a means to an end.”
“What do they want with Buffy? It can’t be revenge on
Riley’s part. He’s the one that who dumped her,” Anya said.
“My sources tell me that Finn has stolen a scroll that would
reanimate a dusted vampire and return him to his sire.”
God, my double died because Drusilla was trying to do the
same thing that he had been trying to accomplish for months: re- corporealize
Spike!
“I haven’t seen the scroll, and doubt Finn even knows what
on it, but it’s a good bet that it requires the blood of a Watcher and a Slayer
to complete the ritual,” Ethan continued.
Anya said, “Spi…” I gave her a warning look; there was no
need to tell Ethan anymore than he knew of our business. “So they’ll go after
Wes next then if they don’t find out about you. We’ll need to put extra wards
up,” she continued.
“I didn’t spend all night gathering this information so you
could defend yourselves," said Ethan sharply. "They need to be crushed.
If you are too righteous to think of revenge in spite of your calling, think of
the Slayer; they’ll have her soon, if they don’t already.”
“Why is it you feel the need to ask us for help? If you are
anything like the Ethan I remember you don’t need any help getting revenge.”
This just didn’t seem right to me. Ethan had to be up to something. I tried my
best to look intimidating but I didn’t expect it would have any effect on Ethan
and I contemplated reminding him again of Anya’s demon status.
Ethan mumbled something and appeared embarrassed as if I had
caught him. I was at a loss over what Ethan could be ashamed of; saving a
kitten perhaps?
“A friend insisted. He
said that if I tried to make a move against Finn and Drusilla alone it would
end very badly. I’m not opposed to bad endings as a rule but I plan to avoid my
own ending as long as possible.”
“So you’re not just acting as an informer, you want to work
with us?” Anya asked, her eyes narrowing skeptically. I found her distrust of
Ethan endearing; she was not a demon who was easily fooled.
“I’m not asking to be put on the permanent payroll. Let’s
just say for the time being that we have similar goals. I’ve got few more
friends that might know where Drusilla is hiding. Give me day or two and be
ready for battle when I call.”
